Yucatan Mission Trip

Wow, my first blog post ever. A couple of weeks ago I traveled to the Yucatan with 32 members of Covenant Pres. Our ages ranged from 17 to 58 and we had two families of four that made it their family vacation.
We flew into Cancun and then drove to a small town called Piste, which is about 2.5 miles from Chechen Itza. Our work for the week was to put a cinder block and concrete roof on a sunday school building and lay some concrete slabs. You can see the SS building in one of the pics (I didn't try to match pictures with content, too difficult for my first post). The hardest work day was sealing the roof with concrete. We built scaffolding and handed buckets of concrete up to the second floor roof. VERY hot and messy work. Cement burns hurt.


One of the pictures shows a chicken coop made with scrap materials. Our chickens are so spoiled. Almost every house there has livestock (pigs, chickens, ducks, turkey) but I was surprised that I didn't see a single vegetable garden. During bible school one day a large pig walked down the street and started rooting up someones yard. Many of our Covenant people were making a big deal out of it and a small child asked me "you don't have pigs in your country."
I told him we did but we keep them in factories, not really.

We slept as everyone does there, in hammocks. Getting used to non-nap sleep in a hammock would have alone been difficult enough, but we also had to acclimate to sweating at night, dogs fighting outside our hut, roosters crowing (not just in the morning), and one dude who snors really loudly. Luckily we worked hard during the day and I had ear plugs.

Most days followed this schedule: breakfast, work til 1pm, lunch, siesta, bible school and women's craft (I went one day and made Emily some earrings, partly because I love her and partly to rebel against the sexism), whole congregation play/hangout time, dinner, more hangout/play time, devotions, hammock. The thing that struck me most about the trip was the congregations example of Christian community and their willingness to share it with us. The pastor and many congregation members worked with us each day and the whole congregation played sports (soccer and basketball) with us (they called me Michael yordan). They also prepared a meal for us, gave us gifts, worshipped with us, and proudly showed off their Mayan history.

They took us to see Chechen Itza which is amazing and very difficult to describe. The amount of astronomy and mathematics that they not only knew but incorporated into Chechen Itza is quite astonishing. Almost the coolest part though was the way we got to see it. Since the town is so close almost the whole town works at Chechen Itza and therefore the town's economy is based almost solely on tourism (which is down 50% from last year). One congregation member and vendor at Chechen Itza told me that during the Swine Flu scare no one came for 2 months and he did not eat. Anyway back to the cool part, the congregation was proud to show us their history so they loaded us in the back of three trucks, waved us through the parking attendant (congregation member), and through the entrance. Once inside two tour guides (congregation members) gave us a tour. It was fun for us to experience such a turisty thing in a non-turisty way.

They also took us to a cenote (google pictures) one afternoon. A cenote is a cave with a deep spring fed pool that you can swim in. There are hundreds in the Yucatan. It was an amazing experience that I can't describe adequately.

The last day and a half of our 8 days we spent on a beach in Akumal (place of the turtle in Mayan). It didn't feel at all like mission work or work at all (I was getting paid and earning time off) but it was certainly restful and generally wonderful. The beach is gorgeous. I went snorkeling out on the reef and saw many fish and turtles. three other guys and I also went on a very nice boat ride and held fishing poles for a couple hours.

It was a great trip. I really enjoyed the intergenerational aspect and the hospitality and community of the Mexican people. I loved being picked up at the airport by Emily, Carson, and Collier.

Look who is getting BIG!!!!

Here is an update of the chickens...we have taken them on a few field trips outside and they really are changing fast!

They have all learned how to roost and seem to like being as high as possible.

They are still very curious and seem to enjoy being outside in the grass.

They also like shiny things...like wedding rings and camera lenses...

Here is chipmunk, affectionately called Spaz. She really is a crazy little bird and is definitely at the top of the pecking order!!!

They even have more feathers since these were taken a couple of days ago! They are really growing up!

They even tried out their coop and ramp and were old pros. They did great. We stayed outside for a while and they laid right up next to the edge closest to us. They are very social!

We hope you enjoy this Memorial Day weekend. Love, Emily and Henry

More baby chicks...

Look who has arrived....

We have to start with the most important news of the day. Carson, our nephew, turned 5 years old today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CARSON!!!! We love you! Time certainly does fly.

Here is some of our spring crop...butter lettuce, romaine and baby carrots.

Here are our seed starters for our summer crop... okra, corn, cucumbers, and green beans here. We are also planting squash, zucchini, several varieties of tomatoes, and bell peppers. There is more, but that is all I can think of right now. See older posts for more info.

And here is our mint. After taking FOREVER to get started, the little plant is out of control. Sorry it is sideways. I forgot to turn it.

Here is Henry showing of one of our monster sugar snap peas. DELICIOUS!

And some more exciting news....these five precious babies came to live with us today.

There are two New Hampshire Reds like this one....

Here is a Barred Rock.

Another New Hampshire Red...This one has a VERY yellow head.

And another Barred Rock...these are the ones that you often see in folk art. Google them.

And here is an Ameraucana....also known as an easter-egger for the color eggs is lays. Right now this little one sort of resembles a skunk....she is really cute.

They like to huddle, make noise, eat, drink water and POOP. 

They are very curious ladies...

And very sweet...

Here is our set up for about a month and half. They have to live inside. We will gradually decrease the heat lamp. They will stay in the upstairs bathroom.

These two were VERY curious. I could have sworn I saw Leo roll his eyes with an attitude of...ARE YOU KIDDING??? And Josie was so excited she was running in circles and meowing. We have introduced them to each other, but will keep the door to the bathroom shut tight when we are not around.

We will post more photos as I know they will change quickly. I know it is going to be a ton of fun! Peace, Emily and Henry

A busy day...

Our front porch boxes are doing GREAT! We already have a ton of sugar snap peas.

Here are two heirloom tomato plants and a poblano pepper plant in front.

New seeds started...Okra, Cucumbers (Salad and Pickling), Green Beans, Sweet Bell Peppers, and Corn! On the right you can see our mint and basil plant.

We are running out of room, but I love that there is so much blooming! We added a new variety of tomatos today...Super Fantastic is what it is called. When we were choosing it, the one next to it was called Fantastic and I can't imagine why anyone would choose Fantastic when you could have Super Fantastic.

I finally gave in and picked a carrot today....so exciting!

We gave it the taste test and.....it was FANTASTIC....or maybe even super fantastic!

Our blackberries are beginning to look like berries...

And after a week and a half in Texas, we came home to a GORGEOUS blooming rose bush....

Henry has been doctoring it, hoping it would bloom. We fed it some egg shells because we heard roses like them...

I guess it is true...they are so pretty.

It was also time to turn the compost. This is before the turn...

And here is the completed, newly turned pile.

Our potatoes also went crazy while we were gone. They are doing great...three varieties.

And unfortunately, the weeds in the garden also went crazy. This is the garden before several hours of work....

And here it is after....

The leaves are supposed to help keep weeds down in the rows and also keep moisture next to the plants. We'll see whether or not it works. Our most exciting news is the new additions in our front bird house. Henry built this bird house in hopes that some birds would move in and have babies....and.....meet the newest members of our extended family....

I think there are five. Here is a video of the mama or maybe dad...I'm not sure....coming back to the house with a worm in its mouth. You will have to watch sideways, because I don't know how to rotate the video. We aren't sure what type of birds they are. I am thinking maybe Carolina Wrens, but I'm not sure. Look at the top right corner of the arbor and you will see the bird sitting there wondering what I am doing....

As many of you know, Emily's grandfather on her mother's side has been dealing for some time with Alzheimer's disease. Thursday he was moved to hospice and is being kept comfortable. One of the things Papa loved to do was work in the yard, garden and keep the bird feeders filled. He was very talented at all of these things and passed this love on to me. So we spent all day today thinking of Papa and working our tails off. It was a good day.

Peace and love to each of you,

Emily and Henry